Tax cut, bribery trial top Oklahoma political stories

Sunday

Dec 29, 2013 at 11:40 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A celebrated Republican tax cut thwarted by the courts, the criminal conviction of two former legislators in a bribery scheme, and the first term of the state’s youngest and first African-American Speaker of the House were among the top political stories in Oklahoma in 2013.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A celebrated Republican tax cut thwarted by the courts, the criminal conviction of two former legislators in a bribery scheme, and the first term of the state’s youngest and first African-American Speaker of the House were among the top political stories in Oklahoma in 2013.

After two years of wrangling with the Legislature over whether and how to cut the state’s individual income tax rate, Gov. Mary Fallin seemed to have finally accomplished her signature political victory — a tax cut and a plan to spend $120 million to repair the crumbling Capitol. Celebrated by Republican legislative leaders, the bill would reduce the top rate that most Oklahomans pay from 5.25 percent to 5 percent, beginning in 2015, with a second cut to 4.85 percent set for 2016 if state revenues rise.

The bill also diverted $120 million — $60 million over two consecutive fiscal years — to pay for improvements to the nearly 100-year-old Capitol building, where chunks of falling limestone from the facade have prompted groundskeepers to block pedestrians from certain areas.

But in December, Fallin’s signature achievement was thrown out by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the bill violated a constitutional ban on including multiple subjects in a single bill. With collections to the state’s general fund dwindling and lawmakers expected to have about $170 million less to spend on state programs next year, Fallin said in late December that it was too early to tell whether she would push for a tax cut again during the 2014 session.

"We’re going to continue to talk to the Legislature about what is possible this legislative year as far as it relates to tax cuts," she said.

House Speaker T.W. Shannon, who served his historic first term as leader of the House in 2013, and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman said they planned to push for a tax cut again in 2014.

Shannon, the state’s first black speaker, was 34 years old when he was formally elected in January to lead the House, and he started his term with a vow to reach across the aisle to Democrats and focus on making the state more prosperous and business-friendly. But Shannon also had to appease the right wing of the increasingly conservative Republican caucus which was responsible for securing his election as House speaker.

He did so in part by creating a States Rights Committee that took up far-reaching bills like one to impose a five-year prison sentence on anyone who tries to enforce the new federal health care law and another to curb the possible influence of the United Nations in local government. He also has refused to discuss the idea of a state bond issue, even while more moderate Republicans say the time is ideal to consider such a plan for improving the state’s infrastructure.

"Taking on unnecessary debt is reckless, selfish and shortsighted, and I have no desire to emulate out-of-control spending that we see in Washington, D.C.," Shannon wrote in a late December editorial.

Shannon also drew criticism for agreeing to hand out more than $280,000 in annual pay raises to nearly half of the House staff, even as he and other Republican leaders opposed giving pay raises to rank-and-file state workers, and for planning to build a chapel inside the statehouse to celebrate the state’s "Judeo-Christian heritage."

Some of the other high-profile bills approved by lawmakers in 2013 included a sweeping overhaul of the state’s workers’ compensation system, a measure to overturn a 50-year ban on the slaughter of horses in Oklahoma and another to increase by $12 the cost of a four-year driver’s license.

Among the other top political stories in 2013 were the felony convictions of two former state legislators for their roles in a bribery scheme.

Former Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, was convicted by a jury of offering a bribe for withdrawal of candidacy and sentenced to a year in prison. He was accused of setting up former state Sen. Debbe Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City, in an $80,000-a-year job at the state Medical Examiner’s Office in exchange for her not seeking re-election in 2010 so that a Republican colleague of Terrill’s could seek her open seat.

The witness list for Terrill’s trial read like a who’s who of Oklahoma politics and included testimony from former Democratic Gov. Brad Henry and several other elected officials.

Following Terrill’s conviction in October, Leftwich waived her right to a jury trial and was found guilty by a judge of accepting a thing of value to withdraw, a felony. She received a one-year suspended sentence and is appealing her conviction. Terrill also remained free on bond while he pursues an appeal.

Even though the Oklahoma Legislature wrapped up their session early in 2013, they were called back to the Capitol by Fallin in September after the Oklahoma Supreme Court tossed out a sweeping civil justice bill the Legislature approved in 2009 because the bill violated the state’s single-subject rule. Legislators returned for a five-day session to change the state’s tort laws, this time through 23 separate bills.

Republicans maintained the action was needed to pass the laws quickly and maintain Oklahoma’s reputation as a business-friendly state, but Democrats criticized the special session, and its $30,000-per-day price tag, as a waste of time and money.

There also were tragedies and misfortune in the Oklahoma political world in 2013. U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, 79, Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator, was still recovering from quadruple-bypass heart surgery when he learned that his son, Dr. Perry Inhofe, 52, died Nov. 10 when the plane he was flying crashed in the Tulsa suburb of Owasso.

Oklahoma also lost several notable political figures in 2013, including former Oklahoma House Speaker Rex Privett, 89; former Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Brenda Reneau, 58; and former Oklahoma House Reps. Forrest Claunch, 73; Bob Ed Culver, 79; Odilia Dank, 74; and Mike Murphy, 81.

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Sean Murphy can be reached at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy

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